The Sunoco Red Cross Pennsylvania 500 from Pocono: It's Anybody's Race.

With NASCAR's longest stretch and NASCAR's tightest corners, at least from an oval-track point of view, Pocono gives it all for your enjoyment!

This is the second time our NASCAR friends visit Pocono this season. It's one of the tracks closest to the world's biggest market, New York City. It's also a very unique track. There are only three corners instead of the traditional four. Yes, it's a triangle. It's somewhat superspeedway and somewhat road course.

Of the current drivers, Bill Elliot has won here more than anyone, with a total of five wins. Jeff Gordon has won here four times, and Dale Jarrett and Bobby Labonte have both won at Pocono three times.

Denny Hamlin, Jimmie Johnson, Jeremy Mayfield, Terry Labonte, Kurt Busch, and Kasey Kahne have each won twice.

Pocono is one of those tracks that makes purists ask one question, "Why do we run here twice?"

The answer is simple.

Besides Watkins Glen, Pocono is the closest track to New York City, the country's largest market. Pocono has two race dates until someone gets stupid and lets NASCAR build a track on Staten Island.

Not that a New York City connection would be bad. I say build a short track, out in the hinterlands of New Jersey, and make it as close to Bristol as they can make it. High banked turns, maybe one-half or three-fourths miles in length.

Put a roof over it, just to make sure all the racing that is advertised will happen. It can be done. Put in about 250,000 seats, and make it the world's largest rain free arena. It could be done.

I like Pocono and I hate it at the same time. I like it because it's a challenge to the best stock-car drivers in the world, but I hate it because I've seen some good drivers in bad accidents on this track.

I just pray that we don't see any bad accidents this week.

Champion Teams Vs. Also Rans

First of all, forgive me. As a Dale Earnhardt Jr. fan, I feel like I must make a few comparisons between Dale Earnhardt Jr. and Jimmie Johnson.

The two drivers are teammates this year. The drive the same races, so it's doubtful that either one of the above mentioned drivers get to hear much of the radio conversations that go on throughout the race between driver and crew chief. Of course I mean they don't get to hear what the other guy is doing, most of the time.

Jimmie Johnson is a 2 time Cup winner who has an almost magical relationship with his crew chief, Chad Knaus. Jimmie and Chad almost seem to complete each others sentences on the radio. Chad has the ability to anticipate Jimmie's wishes for making the car run better. Such is not always the same for Dale Earnhardt Jr. and Tony Eury Jr.

Dale Jr. has not always been known as the greatest of communicators on the race track. It's little wonder, because he's a very busy man out on the track. Dale Jr. gives feedback on the car, but sometimes it appears to me that Tony Jr. is making an educated guess at best about how to adjust the car the next time Dale Jr. pits. Sometimes Tony Eury Jr.'s decisions help Dale Jr. Sometimes they don't. Chad does much the same thing, but it would appear that most of the time, Chad's adjustments work to the benefit of the 48 team, while somewhat more frequently, Tony Jr.'s adjustments work to the detriment of the 88 car. All racing is a fine line between getting the car right and not quite hitting the mark, but Chad and Jimmie have an advantage here, it would seem, because Chad almost always makes the car better, it would seem.

I'm walking a fine line myself here, because Dale Jr. currently runs 2nd place in points, which is better than Jimmie or Jeff Gordon or the forgotten member of Hendrick Motorsports, Casey Mears. Dale Jr. is certainly running much better this year than he has over the last couple of years at Dale Earnhardt Inc. That is beyond dispute. But I fear that Dale Jr. and Tony Jr. lack the communication to seal the deal with a Cup this year. I hope, desparately, that I am wrong, but I just don't see the cohesiveness on the 88 team that I'm seeing on the 48 team so far. The situation is much improved, but there's a couple of places where they just don't seem to be clicking along on all cylinders.

Driver and crew chief disagree over the number of tires to be taken on a pit stop. Net result, lots of track position lost, and not enough time to make it all up.

Driver and crew chief not clear over what will be done in the pits. Driver expects more time, and subsequently leaves the pit a fraction of a second over when he would have, had he known all the details.

I've seen a little bit of all of this so far this season on the 88 team.

I'm proud of my favorite driver, Dale Earnhardt Jr, and for the job he's doing at Hendrick Motorsports. They are much improved over last year, and they are still a championship contender. I just think that they need to tighten up the communication a little to make it all come together. It's part driver and it's part crew chief. If they get the kind of chatter over the radio that I've listened to between Jimmie and Chad, I think they'll win it.

But they've got to communicate first. The driver, crew chief, and the entire team all have to be on the same page, every single pitstop. There is virtually no room for errors when it comes to winning the Cup. Every person has to be perfect almost every week.

Dale Jr. can win it, but they need to make sure they all know what's going on in the pits.

A New Champion This year?

It's possible. Currently Kyle Busch is leading by 253 points over second place Dale Earnhardt Jr. Neither has ever won a cup championship before. In 3rd place, only 18 points behind Dale Jr., is another driver who has never won the cup, by the name of Jeff Burton.

When the Chase for the Cup starts after the 2nd Richmond race, The points will be reset, but Kyle Busch will have an obvious advantage, with currently 70 bonus points, 10 each for each race won so far. As we saw yesterday at Indianapolis, Kyle Busch is not invincible. Kyle Busch can be beaten, and there are a lot of drivers that are perfectly capable of beating Kyle at any given race track.

I don't do lists here, or top 10 picks, but in my humble opinion, Kyle Busch, Dale Earnhardt Jr., David Ragan, and Brian Vickers are the most improved drivers in 2008, compared to their 2007 seasons. Kyle obviously has found much success with Joe Gibbs Racing and Toyota. Dale Jr. has found much in the way of more consistent finishes at Hendrick Motorsports. Brian Vickers and David Ragan are finishing much more consistently than they have in recent years. Jimmie Johnson is moving closer to the top of the standings because he currently has 2 wins for HMS. There are a lot of drivers in play for the championship this year.

I have a personal favorite for the Cup Champion of 2008. It's personal, and it's biased, but I do believe that Dale Earnhardt Jr. is making major progress in getting a handle on the New car and all the troublesome things that have come with it. While Chad Knaus and Steve Letarte were competing for a championship last year, Tony Eury Jr. and Darien Grubb were concentrating on figuring out the new car. It's possible that by concentrating on winning the championship in 2007, the 24 and 48 teams got behind on their strategy of winning in 2008. Chad Knaus and Jimmie Johnson seem to have caught up, at least somewhat. The disaster that passed for a race yesterday at Indianapolis is hardly a true test of what exactly the 48 Lowe's Chevrolet team has actually accomplished though.

It's pie in the sky time. I believe that Kyle Busch's domination of the top series in Nascar will dwindle as crunch time gets closer. Kyle appears to be a pretty emotional guy, and those emotions will eventually get him in trouble. One of these days, in the heat of the moment, Kyle will do something that even Nascar can't ignore. Dale Earnhardt Jr., in contrast, seems to have a lot of ice water in his veins this year. He doesn't ruffle easily. He gets frustrated, but he takes it out by cursing on the radio, and not by wrecking other cars on the track. In my opinion, Dale Jr. has truly achieved Cool. Let Kyle Busch sew his own curtain of defeat.

Dale Earnhardt Jr. has a definite shot at the Cup Championship this year. I will be cheering him on, because the guy currently in first place makes me want to vomit.

Rusty Wallace opens Mouth, inserts Foot

The news came out recently that Ryan Newman and Penske Racing were parting ways after the 2008 season. Former driver, Nationwide team owner and ESPN color analyst Rusty Wallace stated the other day that Ryan Newman had been told by Roger Penske that his services were no longer needed or wanted next year.

When Newman heard what his former teammate said, he asked if Rusty was "conscious" when he made those remarks. Ryan also said that he was familiar with Wallace' "plural" personalities. Ouch!

Ryan Newman said that he and Penske had talked about the direction that his #12 Dodge team had been headed, and said that he and Roger mutually agreed that it was time for Ryan to seek other driving opportunities. Ryan said that it was in actuality mostly his decision not to drive for Penske next year.

A case of he said/ he said? Not quite. Roger Penske quickly came to Ryan's defense and stated that Rusty's suggestion that Newman had been fired was false. What exactly transpired between Newman and Penske will probably only be known by the driver and the owner, but it doesn't make Rusty Wallace look too good right now.

Rusty Wallace and Ryan Newman were teammates for a few years, and never really got along. The two teams didn't seem to get along, and there were complaints by Rusty that Ryan's team would not share information on the car setups. The two drivers feuded on the track as well as off it would seem. When Rusty became a commentator for ESPN and ABC, I had hoped that he would be man enough to let bygones be bygones. Apparently that hasn't happened.

I may be making it too personal, but I've had a problem with Rusty as an analyst almost from the very beginning of his second career. It began for me last year when he began calling the Nationwide races for ESPN. Besides his broadcasting duties, he is the owner of Rusty Wallace Inc. who's premier driver has been none other than Rusty's son, Steven.

Steven has never won a race in Nationwide. In fact, he seems to have a definite talent for wrecking cars. Sure, not all the wrecks he's involved in are not his fault, but a lot of them are. Rusty doesn't mind expressing his opinions about the causes of some of the wrecks, and some of his opinions appear to be those of a team owner taking the side of his driver and son, rather than the opinions of a color analyst. I don't envy him the task of having to try to act impartial when he's seeing his own money literally go up on the track in front of him, but I've noticed that the rest of the broadcast crew tends to talk very lightly around Rusty when talking about the transgressions of Steven. I believe this has somewhat a chilling effect on the impartiality of the broadcasts.

Former drivers do not necessarily make bad color commentators for race broadcasts. Former driver Dale Jarrett is one of the highlights of the ESPN Cup broadcasts so far. Dale is very knowledgeable as a former driver, and his sense of humor adds something to the broadcasts in my opinion. Plus, Dale does not have a son in any of the races, but I doubt that it would matter much if he did. To me, Dale Jarrett's easy going personality compliments Dr. Jerry Punch and Andy Petree. Rusty Wallace' somewhat confrontational and and competitive demeanor often leads to some uncomfortable silences in the booth.

This isn't a total hit piece on Rusty, and I don't mean it to be. Rusty was a great driver in his own right, and certainly is entitled to his opinions as such they are. I don't know where he got his information regarding the impending split between Roger Penske and Ryan Newman, but maybe he ought to talk to the parties involved before he makes statements that were so quickly refuted by both parties.

What the Heck was That?

Thankfully, the Allstate 400 at the Brickyard is over. For a race fan, it was a very strange event, and in some ways seemed like a series of heat races. There were virtually no long green flag runs, with competition cautions every 10 to 12 laps. Jaun Pablo Montoya and Matt Kenseth blew tires. Dale Earnhardt Jr. had tire trouble. Kyle Busch had tire trouble. They were taking Goodyear tires off of these cars with 7 or 8 laps of green flag racing on them, and they were worn down to the cords.

The owners and drivers basically said the only thing that they could, which was that Nascar was doing all they could, they were doing the right thing, and it wasn't Nascar's fault, and it wasn't Goodyear's fault either. All the experts on the situation were waiting for the track to get "rubbered in", which basically means that enough rubber gets laid down by practice and qualifying that the tires wear longer for the actual race.

That obviously did not happen. Instead of pushing rubber into the track surface, the tires just shredded, leaving little piles of rubber everywhere. It got in the grill openings to the cars. It got inside the cars and all over the drivers. It got all over the fans sitting close to the track. As a long time fan of Nascar, I've never seen anything quite like it.

Certain tracks have always been known to be hard on tires. Indianapolis is one of them. So was Darlington. So was the old Rockingham track. Certain tracks have always had reputations as being tracks where tire strategy would be very important.

I remember back in the old days, they used to run 500 miles at Talladega on one set of left side tires, and they might only change right side tires 2 or 3 times during a race. Today, very few of the drivers could get 10 good laps out of a set of tires, and often times they only got 5 or 6 good laps out of them before they began having problems. The boys in the ESPN booth were all but apologizing for the race. Several drivers said that they put on the best show they could, under the circumstances. I felt rather bad for the drivers that had to deal with so many cautions, which made for a very long day for a race that's only 400 miles long.

Congratulations to Jimmie Johnson and crew chief Chad Knaus for their victory today. Jimmie and Chad seemed to be one of the few teams that formulated a tire strategy early on and followed it to success. Other teams such as Dale Earnhardt Jr. gambled by short pitting, and gaining track position. Dale Jr. led laps early in the race, but quickly lost a lot of track position as he wobbled around on a left rear tire that was going flat. Dale Jr. eventually ended up a lap down, and it took several more cautions for him to get back on the lead lap. Though he flirted with the top 10 several times later in the race, he continued to lose positions every time he pitted, and ended up rather unhappy with a 12th place finish. Teammate Jeff Gordon seemed to be attempting to use a similar strategy as was Johnson's team, and managed a respectable 5th place finish. Congratulations to Jimmie and Hendrick Motorsports for their 3rd points victory in 2008, and Jimmie's second of the year.

I'm certainly not going to play the blame game for what happened at Indy today, but It seems to me that with all the millions of dollars that Nascar spends on research and development, and all the money that Goodyear pours into its racing tire program, it just seems to me that somebody, somewhere, dropped the ball. As interesting as it was to see a series of heat races at Indianapolis Motor Speedway, I hope I don't get to see that ever again.

On a side note, for those of you who might be Jeff Gordon fans, there is a brand new message board devoted specifically to all things Jeff Gordon. I have visited it, and even joined. It's a really nice site, and the lady who is running the board is doing so in order to have a place where Gordon fans can meet and chat. Go check out the Jeff Gordon Pit Board, and you'll meet some very nice people!

So, Who's going to be in the #4?

photo from Nascar.com

Tony Stewart made it official today. He will be driving the #14 Old Spice/Office Depot Chevrolet for Stewart-Haas racing in 2009. It's a good looking car, in my opinion. Tony looks extremely happy. He'll be driving the 14, which was his hero, A.J. Foyt's number. But one big question remains, which of course is who will Tony's teammate be next season?

Ryan Newman seems to be the odds on favorite at this point, according to everything I read and hear. Ryan recently announced that he and Penske Racing will be parting ways after 2008, and he has to be at least considering driving the #4 for Stewart-Haas. Other top drivers that might be in the running include Casey Mears, who will not be returning to Hendrick Motorsports next year, and possibly Martin Truex Jr., should he decide to part ways with Dale Earnhardt Inc.

This all means, regardless of where Ryan Newman goes, that the #12 Dodge of Roger Penske is an open slot too. I imagine David Stremme will most likely be in the car, but no one knows for sure. Casey Mears might also have a shot at that ride as well.

Tony Stewart leaving the #20 Toyota at Joe Gibbs racing leaves an empty slot too, but many people believe that the greatest thing since sliced bread, Joey Logano will be in the #20 Home Depot car next year, despite his tender young age of 18. Joey has already won in the Nationwide series though, and from what I've seen of his personality, he would be a perfect teammate for #11 Denny Hamlin and #18, Kyle Busch.

Personally, I'd love to see Casey Mears in the #4 next year. He and Tony share a love for racing all kinds of cars, and winning in them. Casey won at Charlotte last year, and though he and the 5 team just haven't seemed to click this year, I think Casey deserves a chance to redeem himself, and I can see him being a good fit with Tony Stewart. To me, Casey has always been a good, solid driver, who takes care of his equipment, and doesn't have a reputation for being rough on the track.

Ryan Newman would also be a good choice, of course. Ryan is one of the greatest qualifiers in the history of the sport, and if he's got good equipment, he could consistently put a Stewart-Haas car on the pole in roughly at least a quarter of the races each year. He's a race winner as well, but has not had much success since his Daytona 500 victory in February this year. Ryan might arguably be the least noticed Daytona 500 winner in recent years, but the fact that he has that particular race under his belt makes him a very attractive bet as a driver to put in the #4.

I like Ryan Newman, but he remains somewhat of an unknown to me. He is an intellectual, it would seem to me. He doesn't say much to the press, other than the obligatory thanks for his team and sponsors. I know that he and Rusty Wallace had a famous feud while they were teammates a few years ago, and I don't know exactly who was the instigator in that feud, or who might have been at fault. Before Newman drove for Penske, Jeremy Mayfield said a few things about the organization that got him kicked out of the #12 car. Of course, Mayfield said a few things about Ray Evernham that got him kicked out of the #19 car too. Mayfield seems to be contrite about that now, and wants another ride. Jeremy's won some races too, so he might be a viable candidate for one of the open slots next year as well.

But, getting back to Ryan Newman, all I know is that he says very little. I have a hard time reading him, when it comes to teammate potential. I think most of us can agree that Rusty Wallace can be a bit of a jerk at times, but was he, a veritable legend in the sport, such a jerk, that a young driver like Ryan Newman lost all respect for him? Or was Ryan just conceited to begin with, and doesn't have much respect for drivers who have accomplished much more on the track than he has? That remains an unknown to me, because Ryan just doesn't give me much to work with. He seems like a nice enough guy, but what is he like when the cameras and microphones are out of range? I hope that in Ryan's case, it's a matter of what you see is what you get. Maybe he's just a quiet, thoughtful guy, who shuns being the center of attention. If that's so, there's absolutely nothing in the world wrong with that.

I'm not going to make any predictions here. Ryan seems to be very likely to end up in the #4 car next year. Personally, I believe that Stremme might end up in the #12. That might leave a gap at Ganassi Racing, but they've had sponsorship troubles anyway. Rumors have been floated that Juan Pablo Montoya might be leaving Ganassi as well, so there are too many drivers, too few or too many rides, and my feeble brain can't get a handle on much of it.

A part of me would like to see Jeremy Mayfield get back into Cup racing somewhere. If he goes out and charges hard, like he's perfectly capable of doing, he could be a contender to drive for a top team in a year or two. If Jeremy has truly conquered his habit of foot in mouth disease, I think he could be a valuable to asset to any team.

Another high profile open slot is of course the #33 Chevrolet, which will fill the 4th and final Cup slot at Richard Childress Racing. For some reason, which I have no idea how to explain, I see Martin Truex Jr. in that car next year. I guess that because Martin Truex Jr. is a friend of Dale Earnhardt Jr., and knowing how close Richard and Dale Jr. are, I can see Richard giving Martin a ride. I don't know if that will happen, of course, but I can see it possibly happening. David Stremme and Casey Mears have likely been thought of to take that ride as well. If I'm Scott Wimmer, who has been acting as somewhat of a test driver for Richard Childress Racing over the last couple of years, and has seen some success in the Nationwide series in an RCR car, I'd be pulling my hair out, wondering if I were going to get the nod from Richard. If the world were a fair place, Scott probably should get that ride, but since there are considerations such as sponsors and points, and all those other unfair things, I don't know exactly what Scott Wimmer's chances are for that ride. Scott's previous experience as a Cup driver was decidely unglamorous.

Ah, tis summertime, and the Silly Season is in full bloom.

Ain't it grand?

Driver #14, Tony Stewart

It appears that Tony Stewart, who recently became equal partners in Haas CNC Racing, forming Stewart Haas Racing, will be driving the number 14 Chevrolet next year, with Office Depot and Old Spice as sponsors. I'm not sure whether Old Spice will sponsor one car and Office Depot the other, but it appears that sponsorship will be present in 2009 for both Stewart Haas Racing cars.

I am happy for Tony Stewart, for it appears that he has achieved both of his primary goals, which were team ownership and a move back to Chevrolet after driving Toytotas for Joe Gibbs Racing in 2008. Tony's cars will be supplied with Hendrick engines and other Hendrick technology. With the right people behind the scenes, there is no reason that Stewart Haas Racing should not be competitive next year.

The number of the car that Tony will be driving is significant as well. A.J. Foyt drove the number 14 from the early 1980's until 1992. A.J. never raced full time in Nascar, but still managed an impressive 7 wins out of only 128 starts. A.J. Foyt's first start in Cup was in 1963 at age 28. His last start was in 1994 at age 59. A.J. Foyt was a winner in virtually every type of racing he ever attempted.

The same can be said for Tony Stewart, a former IRL champion, a former Sprint car champion, and a two time Cup champion with 32 wins to his credit thus far. Like his hero, Tony has won at every level of racing, and he's won races in every type of car he's every attempted to race in. Tony, like his hero A.J. Foyt, is a true champion in every sense of the word. That Tony Stewart picked the number 14 came as no surprise to me. Back when the talk first surfaced that Tony wanted to be a team owner, I thought at that time that the number 14 would be perfect for Tony.

Tony and A.J. Foyt are a lot alike in other ways besides their prowess behind the wheel of a race car. Both are known to be outspoken men who are not afraid to speak their minds. A.J. Foyt was known as somewhat of a brawler, and though we haven't seen Tony in an outright fist fight with anyone, he has been known to lash out, sometimes physically when he's frustrated. Neither of these men appear to have a very high tolerance for nonsense. In a lot of ways, I think Nascar would be a better sport if there was less nonsense and more racing, but I'll discuss that further at a later time.

Both A.J. and Tony are known for being hard chargers on the track as well. Their style could possibly be termed as 'finessed aggressiveness'. Both drivers grew up racing on dirt, where precise car control is a must for success. Both learned early in their careers how to find the limits of their race cars and how to push those limits. Both drivers have had hard wrecks in their careers, but both drivers have also won a ton of races.

I've been a fan of Tony Stewart since he began driving in Nascar back in 1999. Tony is without a doubt the most successful driver to come straight from open wheel racing to the stock cars of Nascar. In his rookie season, Tony won 3 times, which is twice more than did Juan Pablo Montoya in his rookie year in 2007. To me, Tony is somewhat of a throwback to the heydays of Petty, Allison, Yarborough, and Pearson. Tony is a tough guy, not afraid of a fight. He would have fit right in with the tough guys who drove and won a lot back in the 1960's and 1970's, where sometimes on track disputes were settled off the track behind the hauler after the race. Racing at any level has always been a tough business, and in racing, it could be said that the difference between a good driver and a bad driver is the degree of toughness they can achieve, or at least display. It's pretty much survival of the toughest. Tony Stewart is one of the toughest.

I'm happy for Tony Stewart in his new endeavor. I'm glad to see him walk away from Joe Gibbs Racing, because though I've got a lot of respect for Coach Gibbs, I really hate seeing Tony drive in that highly paid kindergarten class made up of Kyle Busch, Denny Hamlin and the greatest thing since sliced bread, Joey Logano.

This week, we're off to Indianapolis, which is probably by far Tony's favorite track. Tony hasn't won the Indy 500, yet, but he has won the Brickyard 400 2 times. I'm going to make an early prediction, which I never do, but I'm going to go out on the limb right now and say that Tony Stewart is my odds on favorite to win at Indy in 2008. If he does, it will be his first win of 2008, and to me there's not a better sight in the world to see than Stewart win at Indianapolis. Well, except maybe seeing an Earnhardt win at Daytona.